Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refill container which accommodates toiletries such as a liquid detergent and fabric softener and food and the like such as cooking oil and instant coffee.
Description of the Related Art
Toiletries such as a liquid detergent and fabric softener and food and the like such as cooking oil and instant coffee are accommodated in a container therefor having a shape which is easy to use. Having a structure specific to features and uses of the contents, the container therefor is expensive. Therefore, when the content is empty, the content which is accommodated in a refill container is sold as a product in order to be able to use the container therefor repeatedly.
For example, regarding a container of the liquid detergent, the detergent has to be taken out by weighing the appropriate amount each time when using it. Therefore, in order to easily pour the detergent into a measuring cup, a rigid plastic container having a nozzle at a pouring opening portion is used as a repetitive-use container. As a refill container for the repetitive-use container, to replenish the contents, a container in which a pouring opening is formed in a flexible container made of a flexible packaging film, or a container in which a plug is attached to the flexible container is generally used.
Since the rigid repetitive-use container is designed to pour out easily, the repetitive-use container is not necessarily suitable for a refill operation to replenish the contents from the refill container to the repetitive-use container.
On the other hand, the refill container is also not necessarily suitable for a refill operation since a focus of manufacturing the refill container is to reduce the cost.
A refill container is proposed that can be opened using a nozzle provided in the repetitive-use container. In addition, a refill container is proposed that does not need to be manually held since the refill container is self-supporting during the refill operation. Such refill container without manual support includes a coupling member coupled to an opening portion of the repetitive-use container attachably and detachably and non-removably, and a container sealing member sealing the refill container body (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-99082).
In a refill container described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-99082, since two members which are a connect member and a container sealing member are used at a plug portion in order to connect a repetitive-use container and a refill container, the cost of the refill container increases. The structure described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2004-99082 is screwing the refill container into an opening portion of the repetitive-use container; therefore, the two members are reliably connected. On the other hand, however, there are drawbacks such that the handling is bothering and also the cost increases since the plug is provided.
In view of the cost, a packaging bag in which the periphery of two packaging films forming a front and a rear as shown in FIG. 8 is sealed is advantageous. Such refill packaging bag may be provided with a pouring opening portion having an arbitrary width which is commensurate with a diameter of the container. However, when forming the pouring opening portion by sealing the periphery portion of the two films forming a front and a rear, when pouring the content, the opening portion is pulled by the sealed ends. Therefore, the front and the rear films are in a pseudo-contact state, thereby the pouring opening is clogged or the pouring opening portion is bent easily, and the pouring opening portion is removed from the repetitive-use container during the refill operation.
In order to solve the problems such as the pouring opening is clogged or the pouring opening portion is bent, a lot of packaging bags are proposed such as inserting a part of a member which is different from a film into the pouring opening portion (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H05-132069), and securing an opening area by expanding a film at the vicinity of the pouring opening portion to make a three-dimensional shape (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 4110940).
However, these packaging bags need processes such as attaching another member and performing a deep emboss processing. In addition, during the refill operation, it is not possible to align and stack the packaging bags orderly in the supply portion of the packaging bags. Furthermore, in the pouring opening portion where the two films forming the front and the rear are sealed, since seal portions are formed at both ends, an opening width is narrowed by the amount of the sealing portion, and a sufficient opening cannot be secured. If the sufficient opening cannot be secured, the time required to dispense the refill is longer.
In order to solve the problems described above, a packaging bag in which a film constituting the packaging bag is bent to form one side of the pouring opening portion and a sealing portion of the pouring opening portion is formed only at one side is proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-236053 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 4910528).
When the packaging bag has a film in which one side of the pouring opening portion is folded as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-236053 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 4910528, the issues of closing of the pouring opening portion and a small opening area of the pouring opening portion are eliminated. However, as can be seen in the pouring opening portion of the flexible packaging bag as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4910528, when the pouring opening portion is set to be oblique in consideration of the ease of pouring operation, the opening operability becomes unstable.
FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a flexible packaging bag described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4910528, and FIG. 9B is an enlarged diagram showing a portion of a pouring opening thereof. Such flexible packaging bag includes at the pouring opening portion, a cut line a, a V-shaped notch b, and a wound processing c with a halftone dot shape provided so as to cover the cut line a. However, if the position of the V-shaped notch shifts, a tear of the packaging bag deviates from the cut line a, and it cannot be opened at the original position of the cut line a.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2011-255947, as shown in FIG. 10, an opening line to provide a pouring opening is formed so as to incline with respect to the bend portion. On the opening line, an easily cutting processing forming a plurality of parallel wound lines is performed. Moreover, by bending the tip portion of the opening cutting line toward a direction parallel to the opening line, a refill container in which the opening operation of the pouring opening portion can be performed easily and reliably is proposed.
However, since the above-described refill container is rubbed or a hole is made by rubbing, having shock or the like are provided to the plurality of wound lines formed at the bend portion, a leakage may occur.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a refill container which is capable of forming a pouring opening portion with a large area without using a separate member such as a plug.
In addition, it is provided a refill container in which an opening operation of the pouring opening portion can be performed easily and reliably, and which can prevent liquid leakage and the like due to scratching, rubbing or the like during the logistics process, handling and the like.